The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
Leak testing of industrial, commercial and consumer devices and components is a sophisticated and necessary adjunct to manufacture. Broadly speaking, the testing is part of quality control and its results can be critical not only to the successful manufacture of components but also to their performance and achieving their intended service life. That a given hydraulic pump, solenoid valve, hydraulic cylinder, or complex hydraulic device such as a vehicle transmission operates properly and provides the desired output can often depend upon the integrity of many components such as valve plungers and seals or, stated oppositely, the leakage rate of such parts and of the composite device.
When such devices are tested for their component and seal integrity (leak rate), it is necessary to employ leakage testers which utilize pressurizing mechanisms such as pumps, pressure sensing devices and data processors which compute the leak rate of the tested component. Typically, a part or component will be rejected if the leak rate is above a certain, predetermined threshold and will be accepted if the leak rate is below another certain, predetermined threshold.
This activity raises the question of how the leak sensing equipment itself is calibrated or tested since an improperly operating leak tester generally does not include self-diagnostic components or programs and it may indicate improper pass-fail test results initially or for a period of time before it is checked, found to be out of calibration and re-calibrated. Furthermore, since different equipment from different manufacturers which was designed for different leak tests may not be accurately and identically calibrated, it becomes advisable to standardize such testing and calibration to ensure satisfactory, consistent and repeatable test results and product integrity regardless of the equipment utilized to perform a leak test.
The present invention is directed to a method addressing the foregoing difficulties.